


Resolution and Revenge

by Bored94



Series: Joi ga joy [3]
Category: Gintama
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Memories, Nightmares, Resolution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:28:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29756172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bored94/pseuds/Bored94
Summary: Some time after the Jōi4 parted ways (after Shōyō's death), Takasugi recreated the Kiheitai to fight against the government. During his travels he found out the truth about Shōyō's past.
Series: Joi ga joy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2181342
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Resolution and Revenge

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Propositi e Vendette](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/767811) by Bored94. 



> This one-shot is based on the fact that when Takasugi reunites with Katsura and Sakamoto in Silver Arc, he doesn't sound surprised at all hearing about Utsuro. I think that somewhere between their separation after the Jōi War and when they met again during Beninzakura Arc, he found out the truth

_They shoved him to the ground. Tied up as he was, he could not stop the fall with his hands and the air was pushed violently out of his lungs, as he was slammed into the bare earth. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Zura had been given the same treatment. He looked back in front of him, feeling his blood boil in his veins. He wanted to kill them all._

_«_ _Will your students choose to die in vain with you or will they decide to live, even at the cost of killing their teacher with their own hands?_ _»_ _Takasugi managed to turn his head just enough to see Gintoki behind them. He was untied and they had given him a katana. The horror began to crawl into him, as the words of the Amanto became clearer and clearer._ _«_ _Don't you think this is the perfect execution for an educator like you?_ _»_ _he gloated, then turned to Gin._ _«_ _Choose whomever you prefer, your teacher or your friends._ _»_ _  
Shinsuke saw Gintoki walk past them without looking up, as if he could not even see them lying there on the ground.  
_ _«_ _Gintoki!_ _»_ _he called him, understanding what he was about to do._ _«_ _D-don't, Gintoki!_ _»_ _  
The friend gave no sign of having heard him. He couldn't do it. Takasugi tried to move, not even knowing what he was trying to achieve, the rope was too tight. He had to stop him, he couldn't kill the sensei._ _«_ _Please!_ _»_ _Gin continued to ignore him, Shinsuke wriggled again, unable to obtain anything. He could feel his despair trying to prevail. Had Gintoki gone crazy? He had to stop him. He couldn't kill Shōyō, he couldn't kill the man who raised them. It was only their fault if they were in that situation: they had tried to free him, but they had failed. Their weakness had condemned the sensei to death. Why hadn't Gin chosen to kill them? They were the ones who failed. He saw Shōyō turn around and say something he couldn't hear, he couldn't help himself anymore and screamed at the top of his lungs._ _«_ _Please, stop!_ _»_ _  
_  
He sat up abruptly and looked around frantically, then he took his head in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees.  
A nightmare.  
It was only a nightmare.  
He was in his room, on his ship, with his army.  
Shōyō had been dead for some time now and he hadn't seen his comrades since they separated, the day after his death.  
He took a deep breath and felt the anger resurface. He remembered perfectly what had happened that day. He, Katsura and Gintoki had decided to ignore the orders they had received and to use their armies to attack the Tendōshū directly. They knew that the Tenshōin Naraku would be formidable adversaries, but the three of them were stronger, they were legends.

They had been so stupid.

Their armies had been wiped out, and he and Katsura had been captured. The only one still free was Gintoki. There was still hope, he would be able to save Shōyō. He had promised him.  
Takasugi felt a pang of hatred work its way through him.  
Instead he was on that cliff too. And he had chosen to save the two of them. He could never forgive him. Inside his left eyelid was still branded the last thing he had seen that day: Gin's face still staring at their sensei, as if at that moment he was unable to see and hear anything else.  
He stood up clenching his fists and trying to banish that memory, the feud with his former comrade had to be put aside, after what he had discovered.  
He let his eyes idly wander over the space beyond the glass: the universe was boundless, but for some perverse twist of fate, some time before he had seen a man identical to Shōyō on one of the planets where they had stopped to refuel. At first he had thought he had made a mistake, but the man turned towards him and gave him a strange smile. He had tried to reach him, but the man had disappeared again in the crowd. From that day on, that stranger had become his obsession. He had used all of his contacts to figure out who he was and finally, after months, he had gotten an answer.  
That man was called Utsuro and was the head of the Tenshōin Naraku. The same Naraku who had captured him, Katsura and Gintoki during the war and who had caused the sensei's death. Apparently Utsuro was the name they used for their leader, the reason why he was identical to Shōyō had been another piece of the puzzle that he had had to search far and wide with little results, until he had stumbled upon a legend on Earth.  
According to legend, the Utsuro of the Naraku were nothing more than a single individual; an immortal monster that over the centuries had taken on different names and personalities, while always remaining at the head of that organization of assassins. Takasugi did not know why Shōyō had parted ways with the Naraku and opened the Shoka Sonjuku, but upon his death he must have regained his original role.  
 _No,_ he thought. _That man was not Shōyō, his eyes were completely different._ They were cold and cruel, they confirmed everything he had heard about Utsuro since he started his own search. That being was travelling the universe sowing death and destruction with Shōyō's face. His acolytes had shaped the history of the country leading to the death of his sensei and the purge of thousands of samurai. If the stories were true, destroying the altana source from which that monster had originated would kill Utsuro as well.

In the past he would have reported everything to his comrades to fight together and stop that being, but by now he had no comrades other than the Kiheitai members. Too much time had passed, the distance and hatred between him and those who he used to call friends and brothers had become an impassable wall.  
Takasugi gritted his teeth and squared his shoulders.  
He had to put a stop to it on his own.  
He would kill two birds with one stone: eliminating the monster that was tarnishing Shōyō's memory and destroying that world that rested its rotten foundations on betrayal.


End file.
